28mm winners on f-mount

[davela]

I recall those older aftermarket primes being decent. The zooms, not so much.

Yeah I agree with you about most of the Zooms, as they seem a bit soft to me, although some are still acceptable. They don't hold up as well mechanically and tend to be prone to haze. There are some gems however among the fixed focus lenses.

 

[Chuck1]

Kiron has a good reputation

 

[flavio81]

sharpness is more important to me

Then the answer is easy: 28/3.5 in AI version. Tested to be really, really good.

 

[flavio81]

PC-NIKKOR 28mm f/3.5 The Nikon 28mm f/3.5 PC is a purely mechanical manual-focus perspective correction (PC) lens for film and FX digital cameras. It works on DX cameras, too.

I own this one, and it's a good lens, but I would guess a regular 28/3.5 AI or AIs will be slightly better.

I have or have had:
28/3.5 H
28/3.5 PC nikkor
28/2.0 Nikkor-N-C
28/3.5 AI

I kept the 28/2.0 for versatility and the PC-Nikkor because I absolutely love shift lenses.

My next observation is that if I know I will need to make a large print, I will use the 6X4.5 or 6X6 or 6X7 format. Knowing that one 28mm lens or another, made for the 35mm format, is 2% sharper in the far corners is just not that useful.

Well, this is a very important observation.

If the OP is really obsessed for sharpness, he/she should move to medium format.

 

[Paul Howell]

The Vivitar S1 (early versions) and Soligor CD 70 to 210 3.5s were as good as Nikon or Canon made until the Canon L version in FD mount. But there we the exceptions, most of the 70 and 80s 3rd party zooms lens were mediocre at best.

 

[skahde]

If the OP is really obsessed for sharpness, he/she should move to medium format.

Welcome to the slippery slope, close your eyes and let go! Next stop: 4x5".